Timna Nelson-Levy grabs first Israelian judo gold in Tel Aviv

Israelian Timna Nelson-Levy carried the home banner into the final of the women’s U57kg in Tel Aviv, where she required just 18 seconds to dispose of the challenge of France’s Sarah-Léonie Cysique.

Seeded number 1, Sarah Cysique (FRA) stayed true to form, continuing her flight path upward and reaching the final. She’s looking stronger and stronger at each event and is now one of the consistent names on lists for opponents to be worried about. The final was a step too far though, as Timna Nelson-Levy gave her home crowd, coach and President something to really smile about, with an emphatic 20 second win. She was determined there would be no stopping her for the first Israelian gold of the tournament. Perhaps the record of three can be broken.

Junior world champion Eteri Liparteliani (GEO) clearly had an excellent run in the preliminaries, beating Diana Dzhigaros (RUS), Anna Kuczera (POL) and world medalist Hedvig Karakas (HUN) on her way to the semi-final, where a loss to the home athlete left her to face senior world medalist Kowalczyk of Poland. It was the Georgian who came out on top, with an invested and heart-felt celebration as she left the mat.

After three bronze Grand Slam medals for Timna Nelson-Levy, this time the gold medal was for her. After her Grand Prix gold in Tel Aviv in 2019, this is again a major success, in fact her career best. Given her bronze medal at the Masters, can we expect more in Tokyo. She is growing to Olympic form and may now realise that everything is possible.